Forerunner Crystal
The Forerunner Crystal, referred to by the Covenant as the Fragment of Divinity, the Shard of the Gods,Halo: First Strike, page 193 or the Holy Light,Halo: First Strike, page 201 was a Forerunner artifact that was discovered in the underground Menachite Forerunner Complex on Reach by Dr. Catherine Halsey and the surviving Spartan members of Red Team in 2552.Halo: First Strike, pages 145-146 The artifact is of incredible power, capable of warping space,Halo: First Strike, pages 214-215 energy, gravity,Halo: First Strike, page 211 and even time and Slipspace.Halo: First Strike, page 248 It is hardly understood by the UNSC forces who found it, but is a prize that the Covenant were extremely eager to obtain. Appearance When the Ascendant Justice jumped into Slipspace, the crystal again rearranged itself, emitting radiation during the entire jump, and caused gravitational distortions. The location of the ship at the end of this jump was somewhere near the Eridanus system, a distance that, from Reach, should have taken several days to traverse instead of a few minutes. By comparing timestamps from several missions Dr. Halsey discovered a three-week average time difference. Her conclusion was that the Crystal bent both space and time. Halsey later gave the crystal to Corporal Locklear, who covered it with C-7 Foaming Explosive and destroyed it to avoid another Slipspace radiation spike, killing himself in the process.Halo: First Strike, page 284 Three shards of the crystal were recovered by the Covenant, which were presented to the Prophet of Truth by Tartarus in an orb-shaped container. Truth then ordered the Brute to reward the pilots that had recovered the shards, then kill them.Halo: First Strike, pages 339-340 The UNSC also possesses pieces of the crystal.Halo: First Strike, page 287 It is unknown what has happened to the shards that were possessed by the two factions, although the three Covenant-recovered shards were likely lost when High Charity fell to the Flood invasion, or were kept aboard the Dreadnought with Truth, and also likely destroyed when the Halo Array was detonated. The rift that was projected when the ship went into slipspace may be similar to the Portal at Voi, Earth. It is probable that the Forerunners used this crystal, or others like it, to travel throughout the galaxy and past its edge almost instantaneously. Indeed, in the Forerunner Saga, reference is made to a central crystal, which all Forerunner slipspace drives contain slivers of to operate. Spent crystal flakes are used to decorate the high government buildings of the Ecumene. Trivia *At the end of the novel Halo: First Strike, The Prophet of Truth is given three chips from the crystal. He then says it "may yet be enough for our purposes." The exact implication is open to speculation; he may simply have hoped to harness its effects as a weapon. *The amount of radiation it produces in Slipspace is too great to be contained. In Halo: First Strike, John-117 orders Anton to place it inside a Pelican's reactor, but the radiation leak didn't noticeably diminish. *The crystal occasionally releases a large number of neutrinos, an unknown type of them, possibly a 4th generation or higher lepton. List of appearances *''Halo: First Strike'' Sources Category:Forerunner Artifacts Category:Halo: First Strike